I did cheat just a bit, because I had started my homemade ketchup yesterday and it was done this morning. I used some of the homemade ketchup in place of the onion, garlic, and tomatoes. It worked perfectly! Everything else I followed to the letter. It was great to have home grown cucumbers to use as well as our own cilantro.

When I was plating the dish, I had three faces looking at me cautiously. Daughter Number Three was immediately put off by the cucumber relish. She is not a fan of veggies. She and Daughter Number Four went ahead and tried the chicken and I saw smiles. “It tastes like pumpkin pie chicken!” announced 4. I waited for The Hubs to give me any signs. He did eat the relish for Daughter Number Three. I finally asked him what he thought. It tasted really good, but was a little bit tough. I had cooked if for 4 hours on high. It was a bit tough. He did say that if I cooked it on low it would be something he would definitely try again. The flavors were different, but good. Yay! Winner Winner Chicken Tikka Masala Dinner!

I did finish the ketchup overnight in the slow cooker. It sure condensed down! It worked great in the Tikka Masala and I ended up with a pint to use on burgers or Patatas Bravas!

Many of the tomatoes that I had from the garden were yellow plum tomatoes. Daughter Number Three and I opted to skip the broiling / roasting part of the recipe so that we didn’t heat up the kitchen. Instead, we boiled water in the microwave and poured over the tomatoes to loosen the skins. We slipped the skins off and pureed the tomatoes, then ran them through the colander to remove some (many) of the seeds.

I read a bunch of recipes and didn’t like any of them…so I added what sounded good to me!

Homemade Slow Cooker Ketchup

4 pounds tomatoes (I used half yellow plum, half red)

1 medium yellow onion, chopped coarse

2 cloves garlic

½ jalapeno, chopped

½ cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon red pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

Wash the tomatoes and remove stems and blemishes. Place in a large bowl, sink, or colander. Pour boiling hot water over the tomatoes to loosen skins. Set tomatoes aside to cool, then slip the skins off. In batches, puree skinned tomatoes in a food processor or blender. Pour pureed tomatoes into slow cooker crock. Chop onion, garlic, and jalapeno and add to the slow cooker. Add vinegar, sugar, salt, peppers, and paprika. Stir together and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until thickened. Do not place lid on slow cooker tightly.

I did not ‘can’ my ketchup because I used half of it in the Tikka Masala and ended up with a pint! I did sterilize the jar, ring, and lid before putting the remaining ketchup in the jar, though.

Overall, the ketchup was a success. It was a success because I used our homegrown tomatoes. It was also a success because I tried something new. Again, a success because I was in charge of what went in to my ketchup. Yes, all add up to success.

In fact, it was a weekend of Slow Cooker Success! It was wonderful to make so many great new things without heating up the house! If you are in a Triple Digit Dilemma for cooking and baking try these are some of my other tested and approved slow cooker meals!